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Hounds and Jackals

Hounds and Jackals is an Egyptian game, which came into existence in the Middle Kingdom, around the 9th Dynasty, circa 2135 – 1986 BCE. It is a racing game, in the same category as Senet, Aseb, and the Royal Game of Ur.

The game was originally discovered by William Mathew Flinders Petrie and published by him in 1890. Since then over 40 examples of the game have been found in Egypt, Israel, Syria, Iran and around the Levant and Mediterranean.

The original name of the game is unknown. Petrie called The Game of 58 Holes, since the game board that he found contained two sets of 29 holes. later, when Howard Carter discovered the fanciest known copy of the game, he called it The Game of Hounds and Jackals, since the playing pieces had heads of dogs and jackals on them. A third, least common, common name for the game was Shen for the Egyptian hieroglyph which was written on some of the examples, around the big hole at the top of the game.

The original rules for Hounds and Jackals are unknown. There have been many reconstruction attempts by historians and archaeologists, but most of them make a boring game. I have presented here two most interesting and challenging sets of rules, which make a really exciting game. The first set of rules was developed by a Russian game re-constructor Dmitriy Skiryuk (Дмитрий Скирюк) and originally published on his blog in three separate posts (1, 2, and in most detail 3), in Russian. I provided some of my clarifications regarding the options on what to do when reaching the last hole. The second set of rules, which is very different from Skiryuk’s, was published by a user Welsch Dragonfly on Instructables.com.

Dmitriy Skiryuk’s Rules:

Number of players is 2.

The game includes the board of 58 holes arranged in two half loops, and the 59th large common hole, 5 jackal pieces, 5 hound pieces, and 4, two sided, throwing sticks are included in the game to serve as dice, with one side rounded and the other side flat.

The movement across the board starts from holes #1 (A and A’) and each player continues on their side along their path until all pieces exit off the board from cell 30 (H). Usually, the hounds get the right side, when facing the rounded end (top on the diagram below), and the jackals get the left side (bottom on the diagram below).

All 4 throwing sticks are thrown at the same time. The score is determined as follows:

If one throwing stick landed on the flat side and the other three landed on the round side the score is 1.

If two throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the other two landed on the round side the score is 2.

If three throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the fourth one landed on the round side the score is 3.

If all four throwing sticks landed on the flat side the score is 4.

If all four throwing sticks landed on the rounded side the score is 5, which is the maximum obtainable score.

Additional throws of the sticks by a player in a single turn are not allowed.

Both players place one of their pieces into hole #1 (A and A’). The remaining pieces remain off the board.

Both players throw the sticks. Whoever scores the lowest of the two moves first on the exact number of holes that they scored with the dice. Then, the opponent throws the sticks again and moves that number of holes that they scored.

Further moves alternate between players.

The pieces can move only forward, by the amount of holes that was scored with the dice. However, if the piece lands on a hole with a line then it will follow the line in either direction, as explained below.

As soon as a piece either lands into holes marked with the Nefer symbol, #15 or #25 (G or G’ and E and E’), or passes them, the player gets to load the next piece onto the board into hole #1 (A or A’).

If a piece lands exactly into holes marked with the Nefer symbol, #15 or #25 (G or G’ and E and E’), the player also gets a second turn.

Once a player has more than one piece on the board, they can move any of their pieces, as long as the move is allowed.

Pieces cannot pass each other unless they do it by landing into passing holes (#6, #20, #8, #10) marked with lines.

One hole can only be occupied by one playing piece. If a hole is already occupied by another piece the player cannot land there or pass it. The only exception is the last hole #30 (H), called Shen, which can hold multiple pieces as will be explained below.

If a piece lands in holes #6 (B or B’) then that piece skips to hole #20 (F or F’), as shown by the lines on the board. The same thing happens in reverse. If a piece lands in holes #20 (F or F’) then that piece skips back to hole #6 (B or B’), as shown by the lines on the board.

If a piece lands in holes #8 (C or C’) then that piece skips to hole #10 (D or D’), as shown by the lines on the board. The same thing happens in reverse. If a piece lands in holes #10 (D or D’) then that piece skips back to hole #8 (C or C’), as shown by the lines on the board.

Skipping holes by following the lines on skipping holes does not count as passing holes with Nefer (#15 or #25 (G or G’ and E and E’)), and if that happens the player does not get to load another piece on to the board.

If a piece passes a hole with Nefer (#15 or #25 (G or G’ and E and E’)), but the starting hole (#1 (A or A’)) are already taken by another piece, then a new piece does not get loaded on to the board. However, if in such a case the piece landed into a hole with Nefer and the player got a second turn, then they still get to take the second turn.

Whenever a player’s piece reaches the final hole #30 (H), also called Shen, the player removes the opponent’s piece that is located the farthest back on the path from the board and keeps it for themselves. The removed piece does not return to the board during the rest of the game for any reason. However, the player’s piece that reached the end hole also gets to be kept by the player and they can bring it back onto the board at any time when a new piece can be brought back onto the board.

Entering hole #30 (H) requires an exact score of the dice. For example, if the piece is located on cell #29, the player must score 1, if the piece is located on cell #28, the player must score 2, if the piece is located on cell #27, the player must score 3, if the piece is located on cell #26, the player must score 4, and if the piece is located on cell #25, the player must score 5 . If the player scores a different dice score and cannot make any other moves using other pieces or move into cell #30, then they skip a turn and wait for the next turn.

The player is never allowed to cross hole #30 (H) and enter inside the opponent’s path. Once a piece reaches the final hole #30 (H) it must stay there until the player scores the exact score of 1, after which that piece can be removed off the board.

A piece sitting inside the final hole #30 (H) cannot be knocked off the board by the opponent. For this reason that hole is made with a much larger diameter than all other holes, since it can hold multiple pieces simultaneously, either the same player’s pieces, or the opponent’s pieces, or both. There is no limit to how many pieces the last hole can hold.

The path can never be empty without any pieces. If a player knocks off the board the only opponent’s piece that was on the board, but the opponent still has more pieces in their hand then the opponent must load the next piece automatically into hole #1 (A or A’) and do not need to wait for dice score 1.

The goal of the game is to capture all 5 pieces of the opponent, while keeping some of your own pieces. The player that captures all 5 of the opponent’s pieces first wins.

On Game Strategy:

Hounds and Jackals is mostly a game of chance and not strategy. However, some strategizing is possible.

The throwing sticks have uneven probability for different scores, as compared to a six sided cubical dice, which makes them more frustrating and exciting at the same time.

The most frequent dice score on throwing sticks is 2 (probability is 6/16).

The next most frequent dice scores are 1 and 3 (probability is 4/16).

The least frequent dice scores are 4 and 5 (probability is 1/16).

Due to this uneven probability of scoring it is advantageous to the player to keep gaps between their pieces and trap holes by either 1 or 3 holes. Gaps of 4 or 5 are even better. However, gaps of 2 are more dangerous since the probability of scoring a 2 is highest and therefore the piece can get easily fall into a trap and get moved back. The opposite applies if the trap hole will move the piece forward or it is a Nefer hole. Then the player should prefer a gap of 2 and not gap of 1 or 3 holes, and of course not a gap of 4 or 5 holes, which will give them even less of a chance on landing there.

Welsch Dragonfly’s Rules:

Number of players is 2.

The game includes the board of 58 holes arranged in two half loops, and the 59th large common hole, 5 jackal pieces, 5 hound pieces, and 4, two sided, throwing sticks are included in the game to serve as dice, with one side rounded and the other side flat.

The cells on the board are defined differently in this set of rules.

All 4 throwing sticks are thrown at the same time. The score is determined as follows:

If one throwing stick landed on the flat side and the other three landed on the round side the score is 1.

If two throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the other two landed on the round side the score is 2.

If three throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the fourth one landed on the round side the score is 3.

If all four throwing sticks landed on the flat side the score is 4.

If all four throwing sticks landed on the rounded side the score is 5, which is the maximum obtainable score.

Every fifth hole is labeled with an orange circle and has a special meaning.

Holes labeled with the Egyptian hieroglyph Ankh (meaning Life) have a special meaning as well.

The holes connected by lines function in the same manner as in Skiryuk’s rule set. The pieces move from one hole to the connected one in both directions, either forwards or backwards.

At the beginning of the game all 5 pieces are placed on the red holes for the first player and on the blue holes for the opponent.

The goal of the game is to move all of the player’s pieces located on one side home box, onto the opponent’s side home box – from red holes to blue holes, and from blue holes to red holes.

Pieces can only move forward.

Pieces are not allowed to land into holes occupied bv the same player’s other piece.

Piece that lands on a hole occupied by an opponent’s piece knocks the opponent’s piece off the board and occupies that hole.

Holes labeled by Ankh and holes inside both of the home boxes are safe holes. If they are occupied by an opponent’s piece that piece cannot be knocked off the board.

A knocked off the board piece can be brought back to the first hole inside its own home box by the exact dice score of 1.

In order to move pieces on the board all 5 of them must be present on the board. While a piece is off the board the same player’s other pieces cannot be moved. If a piece has been knocked off, the player must bring that piece back onto the board with the exact throw of the dice.

If the home box is completely empty, and the player scores 1, they put the knocked off piece onto the first hole inside the home box.

If they score 2, then they put it in the second hole inside the home box.

If they score 3, then they put it in the third hole inside the home box.

If they score 4, then they put it in the fourth hole inside the home box.

If they score 5, then they put it in the fifth hole inside the home box.

If a hole is already taken by one of the pieces, either their own or the opponent’s (which cannot be knocked off since the home box holes are safe holes), then the player loses their turn, and must throw the dice again on the next turn to try to land inside a different hole inside the home box. The player gets only one dice throw try per turn.

If all 5 spaces inside the home box are occupied by a mixture of player’s own and opponent’s pieces and the player gets a piece knocked off, since there are no holes for the player to bring back the knocked off piece they lose the game.

The player who occupies the opponent’s home box with all of their 5 pieces, wins the game. Also, if opponent’s home box is occupied by a mixture of the opponent’s pieces and the player’s pieces, and the opponent get a piece knocked off the board, which they cannot return on the next move, because the home box is fully occupied, then the player wins the game as well.

There is a variation in the game if the players are using two sets of 4 sided dice instead of throwing sticks. If the 2 two sided dice were thrown, then the player can chose to move two pieces on one turn, one on the amount of holes scored on one dice and the other on the amount of holes on the other dice. But the player cannot split moves however they want. They must use one dice for one piece and one dice for the other piece.